


Cursed Children

by inheritanceofgeek



Category: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket - Takaya Natsuki (Manga), Fruits Basket Another
Genre: Babies, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Future Fic, Gen, Manga Spoilers, Parenthood, premature births
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 09:44:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20504915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inheritanceofgeek/pseuds/inheritanceofgeek
Summary: It's been over a decade since the breaking of the curse. Yet the pain has never gone away, and Kyo's fears of a recurrence are only doubled when his daughter is born prematurely.But things are different now, and maybe that damn rat isn't as awful as he first thought. Maybe they really can be, and maybe even already are, friends.OrThe one where Kyo cries in front of an incubator, and Yuki comforts him.





	Cursed Children

**Author's Note:**

> For full effect, please be sure to listen to "Wires" by Athlete whilst reading this.
> 
> Thank You to Wowza AKA [Anime-wow](http//:anime-wow.tumblr.com) on Tumblr for the beta =D

It didn't matter that the beads were gone. It didn't matter that he already had two children of his own. It didn't matter that most of the Junishi  _ also _ had kids of their own who were free from the curse. It didn't matter because this time was different.

A daughter. 

The scans had been quite clear that this time around, they were expecting a daughter. The thought caught in his throat and the doctor had mistaken his choked back tears as tears of joy. Two boys and a girl. 

It was almost like a fairy tale, but Kyo knew that if fairy tales were true-- if there were Princesses and Princes and Good Fairies who'd grant you all your wishes-- then there also had to be Dragons and Demons and Evil Witches waiting to look you up in a tower. 

She was born early. Not the two months that signaled a Zodiac Birth, but still too early for Kyo's comfort. She'd been whisked away from them and put into an incubator where all Kyo could do was sit by her side and offer her a finger to hold. 

The boys had seemed impossibly small, but it looked like three weeks was early enough to blow them out the water. Her tiny body was covered in wires, the beeping of the machines making Kyo stand on edge as he tried to guess what they all meant. Her minuscule legs wriggled about impatiently, and he was so scared that she'd knock something loose. Her little hand refused to let go of him though, tiny fingers wrapped around him like a lifeline. 

"Ha! Look at that. She's already got you wrapped around her finger." came a mocking voice from behind him. Kyo shot up straight, surprised by the sudden noise but relaxed back down again when he saw it was Yuki. The doctors had stated that only immediate family would be allowed to visit, but over the years Yuki had become as good as a brother to him. They were still a little estranged, things were still awkward between them, but that could be said for most siblings. Yuki leaned down and looked into the box, a gentle smile on his face. Given the situation, Kyo felt he looked far more content than he had any right to look. 

Kyo spared him a single judgmental stare, before giving his cousin a soft smile and slumping back down in his chair. “If you’re looking for Tohru she’s sleeping in the parent’s room. Don’t disturb her, it was hard enough to persuade her to leave as it was." 

Yuki gave him another one of those shit-eating grins he seemed to spare just for those he loved. "Am I not allowed to come and say hello to my baby cousin and his daughter?" 

"I'm the same age as you, Poo Head." he glared as Yuki pulled up a chair and sat down beside him, laughing the insult off as he always did. Kyo was trying his hardest to not swear around his kids and students, which meant adopting their vernacular. Much to the amusement of everyone around him. 

Yuki ignored his protestations though, leaning in to get a closer look at the girl, his grin growing warmer the longer he looked at her. It set Kyo on edge. Couldn't he see how sick she was? How vulnerable and miserable she had to be in there? How could he smile like that?!

"She's incredible, Kyo. Barely two weeks old and already such a fighter. You must be so proud of her." His voice broke for just a second, and Kyo could see him swallow deeply before talking again, still staring down at the box as his eyes took everything in. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this. It's not fair. Tohru and you… you don't deserve this.  _ She _ doesn't deserve this. Is there any news yet? From the Doctors?" He asked hesitantly. 

"They say she'll be able to go home in a few days. We’re through the worst of it. Tohru's been able to feed her properly, and she's been moving around a bit more. Those are good signs." He didn't look up from her scrunched up face as he talked, searching it for any signs of pain. But she just slept on. "They asked me if I wanted to hold her." He added as an afterthought. Immediately uncertain as to why he'd bought the matter up at all. 

"And did you?" Yuki asked, looking at Kyo with a pity that ten years ago would have sent him into a flying rage. Instead, Kyo just gulped back another set of tears and shook his head. He’d been crying a lot lately, and it didn’t matter how long it had been since those days at the estate, there was no way he was going to cry in front of that damned rat. 

"Why not?" pressed Yuki, always posing the questions that Kyo needed to be asked. Which was ridiculous really, because surely the answer was obvious. 

"Like I said, Tohru's been feeding her herself, so it's not as though nobody's been holding her. Hana-chan and Uo-chan visited the other day too, and they each had a cuddle. So she's getting plenty of human contact. It's just that..." 

"It's just that you're having another one of your freak outs, aren't you?" 

"Wouldn't you!" Kyo snapped, glaring up at those purple eyes that he'd unnecessarily resented for so long. "My daughter was born too weak to breathe for herself, and now she's trapped all alone inside a box! Wouldn't you freak out?!”

"She's not alone though." Yuki continued, his voice low like he was dealing with a wounded animal. "You're here by her side. She has Tohru, she has her aunts. She's got two big brothers and a whole hospital of people waiting to come and see her once they're allowed.” 

“It’s not the same,” he muttered, watching her still. “She can’t leave this place. She can’t-- I can’t… it’s not the same.” He couldn’t put his feelings into words, how could he? 

As he looked at his sleeping daughter, he couldn’t help but compare himself to her. He thought of the room where every cat before him had been locked up. He thought of the loneliness they must all have felt, even if they did have visitors. His predecessor had had a child of his own, after all. One he'd spent little to no time with them because of the curse… and was later shunned by his own grandson. 

He thought of how he would have felt in that scenario; he thought about how the curse was so deep in his bones that it was never going to truly leave him. It was permanently etched to his DNA-- all you had to do was look at Hajime and Kenji to see that! Tohru loved that their children took after him, he knew it eased her own trauma, but to Kyo it was just another thing to be afraid of. Was the curse truly broken, or was it just lying in wait? 

“Of course it’s not the same. It's never going to be." Yuki sighed, resting chin on his hand as he continued to survey Kyo with veiled concern. “It wasn’t the same with Hajime-kun and Kenji-kun either, was it? Or with Mutsuki, or Sora-chan and Riku-kun or—“ 

“Yeah yeah I get it!” Kyo barked angrily “Every birth and every child is different. Sora and Riku are Twins for God's sake! But it still doesn’t change anything,  _ they _ weren’t born early, were they? They weren’t born to the  _ cat _ . What if… what if I hold her and something happens? What if I transform or-- or worse of all  _ she _ transforms! All the wires keeping her alive would fall out, she'd not be able to breathe again and it would all be  _ my fault _ ! I can't risk it, can't you see? Look at her!" 

God damn it he was crying again. Despite everything he'd promised himself he was crying in front of that Damn Rat. In front of Yuki, the boy who’d finally opened his eyes to the truth. He hadn’t even told Tohru any of this, though he knew she suspected how he felt. Yet here he was, pouring everything out into the hands of his old nemesis. Things were better between them, they'd grown closer than anyone had ever thought possible… but they both knew some things would just never truly heal. At least Mutsuki and Hajime were free from that. They had the relationship their fathers had been denied.  _ They'd _ escaped the curse, but what if his daughter hadn't? 

Yuki sighed sadly, and started to gingerly rub circles into Kyo's back as he continued to cry. "You know Nii-san felt the same when Hibika-chan was born. He carried her everywhere in a Moses basket, and wouldn't let any of us hold her for the first two weeks. Then Mine-nee forced the baby onto him and  _ everything was fine _ . You remember Haru and Rin when the twins were born? Haru refused to hold Sora and Rin, Riku. Then one day, they picked up the wrong kid by mistake, and  _ nothing happened _ . Haru says that he just fell further in love with his daughter, and Rin cried for so long he thought she'd dehydrate! But everything turned out fine, their fears were unwarranted and all they did was miss out on their child's early life. Are you really going to make the same mistake?" 

Kyo looked down at his daughter. At the rise and fall of her chest. At the way her legs kicked out fiercely. Her face was angled towards him, and slowly she opened her beautiful dark blue eyes and slowly blinked at him. Kyo's heart melted inside his chest. He knew he was going to make mistakes, he knew things were going to go wrong along the way. That was just how parenthood worked.

"Well, then you Stupid Cat, if you're not going to hold her then I will." Yuki climbed to his feet and made a big show of going to look for a Nurse. Kyo felt fury rise up in him. 

"Hey! No  _ Damned Rat _ is gonna hold my baby before I do!" He snapped, going to stand up and then hesitating. He glared at Yuki and then slumped back into his chair. 

"Well that was anticlimactic." Yuki surveyed him with a raised eyebrow. "Guess you  _ really are _ still just a Stupid Cat." 

"I'm not stupid." He hissed, staring back down at his daughter, "I can't move because she's still holding my hand." 

Yuki's expression went from irritated to soft in a matter of seconds. "Well then I guess I need to apologise, you're just a Sappy Cat instead. Want me to go find you a nurse then? So you can be even sappier than you are right now?" 

Kyo turned his eyes back to his daughter and smiled softly. "Yeah, go on then. I'll hold her." 

Yuki gave them a final grin before he went off to find a nurse, coming back with one sooner than Kyo expected. Although he was never entirely sure how much time had passed when he was with his daughter-- she was just so incredible. He'd been the same with Hajime and Kenji, but it somehow all felt different with her. 

The nurse came back in with Yuki, gently explaining how Kyo was meant to hold the baby since she was still recovering. Kyo nodded, taking in all the information whilst still pointing out that he'd done this twice before. Yuki rolled his eyes as Kyo took off his shirt in preparation, but skin-to-skin contact was vital for development! Just because  _ Yuki _ hadn't bothered to maintain an exercise regime didn't mean they'd  _ all _ given up. 

The nurse gently passed her over, and for a second Kyo panicked as the baby was placed into his hands. He braced himself, waiting for the inevitable  _ poof _ that'd signal a transformation… but nothing happened. And then nothing continued to happen. He took a great sigh of relief, his chest rising and falling, jogging her slightly She raised raised a tiny fist and placed it against his heart, unaware as to what was happening in the world around her. 

Kyo felt more tears fall down his cheeks, he gasped in panic as he saw them fall on top of her. The Nurse smiled softly, explaining that this happened a lot, and a little bit of water wasn't going to do her any harm. 

"Does the little one have a name yet?" She asked, shuffling the tissue box a little closer towards him. 

Kyo shook his head gently, "Her Mama said I should pick the name, since she chose our youngest boy's, but…" 

"But naming something so fragile can be very daunting." The nurse nodded in understanding, "Well, she's doing a lot better than any of us expected, so I think you'll be alright in choosing a name. Let us know what you decide so we can do all the paperwork for her. I'll be in the workstation if you need me." She gave them a little bow, and Yuki returned it, thanking her for all her help. 

He sat back down next to Kyo, peering over his shoulder at the new edition to their family. "Have you really not chosen a name yet? You both had Hajime picked right from the start, if I remember." 

Kyo felt embarrassed somehow at being called out. "Yeah, I mean. I guess I do have a couple of names in mind. I know that Shishou thought we should name her for Kyoko-san, but neither of us want to put that kind of pressure on her. It's too much to live up to, you know? So I was thinking maybe…" 

"You were thinking?" Yuki prompted 

"I was thinking 'Emiyo'. It means 'blessed and beautiful generation'. I found it on Google." He added a little ashamedly. But where else were you meant to find names these days?! At least he wasn't naming her after a videogame  _ unlike some relatives he could mention.  _

"Emiyo and Kyo." Hummed Yuki, emphasising the rhyme. "I knew she'd have you completely owned from the start! You're just adding fuel to the fire now. But I like it!" Yuki added quickly, "It suits her. It's beautiful and meaningful, and I like it." He gently brushed a finger down the girl’s back, causing her to snuggle a little closer into Kyo in the process "Hello Emiyo Sohma-chan it's a pleasure to meet you." 

  
She made a tiny gurgle in response, somewhere between a complaint and a thank you. Yuki was right, Kyo was  _ absolutely _ besotted with her, and always would be. He had completely doomed her to a life of being a Daddy's Girl. Still, there were far worse curses in the world. 

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoyed this? Please let me now via kudos/comments or on Tumblr where I'm [Mrsmarymorstan](http//:mrsmarymorstan.tumblr.com) =D


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